Question for Monte, above copied from another post on shock mounting, after looking at pics WHITEDART posted here, do you know why or when Rhodes switched to shocks in front of axle centerline?

When he put the anti-roll and wishbone on the car. Which side of the housing shock is on makes zero difference anyway if you have good shocks, which he does.......I see Afcos in that pic but he normally runs Santhuffs

When I went to Calvert to get my 25" ft. segments, I talked to John and Travis about the "fast" caltrac guys and WHITEDART is correct in that Rhodes and others run a parabolic(sp)spring or something of that nature AND lowering blocks..............

Then why do we need shackles we should just take them off

If the rear seg is only to hold the up i can put a car on the hoist and twist the rear end 4 deg with the rear end on stands will you stand under the spring i will pull the shackles off. no not unless you want to get hit in the head.

The rear seg is a tuning ad

Can someone explain what all is going on in the photo Whitedart posted? It appears there is a panhard ber, the heim end for an anti roll bar, a front mounted shock and what appears to be the lower part of a ladder bar. What is the bar with the welded tab that appears to bolt to the anti roll bar? Please pardon my ignorance.

I think one or two degrees less housing rotation. Will help me greatly.I don't need much. And maybe even a touch more. Preload on the bar..

strength tube connecting schackle plates or floater plates for leafs with ladder bar susp

NO.....its not. What was the "old school" trick years ago. You added front half leaves, clamped the front pack solid and took the clamps off the rear......WHY did you do all that? to make the front segment solid as possible to prevent housing windup and to free up the rear to help it plant the tire. On split mono leafs, the "trick" if you want to call it that is use as straight and stiff a front segment as possible, then you just use whatever rear segment makes the car sit where you want it to. It has absolutely ZERO to do with how the car works. It holds up the car, period, end of story. SHOCKS control the "hit" of the tire and housing. This is suspension 1o1

You only run a block if the car sits too high and if it sits too high, you have the wrong rear rate or mounted wrong. If a coilover over car sits too high, you change the mount or put a softer spring on it. A leaf car is no different. A block is a crutch for an incorrect setup. I see no blocks in the picture of Rhodes car, nor do I see blocks under other leaf cars that 60ft hard. Rhodes has been 1.04 on leafs.

Housing twist and or front segment wrap up, is the issue here. A Cal-trac has a cross bolt and the lever pushes this crossbolt down on top of spring. This can "S" shape the spring and you get wrap up. This is why I prefer the "Assassin" bars. They strike under the spring eye and are clamped to front segment. With either, you a need a VERY stiff front segment to keep the spring from wrapping up from the torque. The pinion is always trying to climb the ring gear and inherently wants to wrap the spring. You HAVE to do all you can to stop that. Looking at it in that way, tells you the rear segment won't do anything to help that

Think some here are way overthinking things. While I respect what Phil has to say on the subject I don't think or see how a stiffer rear segment is gonna help things at all. Look at the way his cars all seem to act at the starting line. They all share one thing n common, a penchant to go up. Not anything wrong with that at all it is the way he like them and how he chooses to get them to work. Kinda off subject there..lol

I have seen your car leave a number of times. I think one of the biggest if not the biggest issues are one, you need a better rear shock. One that can control the separation as it should. Two loose the lowering blocks. If you need them to obtain the ride height you NEED then you already have the wrong rear spring imo. You need to be able to control the separation at the rear and the shock is what is going to do that. No a stiffer rear spring.

Are you thinking a stiffer front segment as well Monty

DO you think it is wrapping up in the front?

The wheelie bars traveling that far IMO from what I have seen is a sign the rear shocks are not stiff enough to control whats going on out back..Maybe they need to be revalved? If as you say it works on one setting and one more click and it does not..

The leaf cars I set up, I use the absolute stiffest front segment that I can buy and then use the rear that makes the car sit where I want it. Put good shocks on it and you are done.


On the wheelstand issue.........that's setup if you are having issues. If it wheelstands on slicks, you need more wheelspeed or less bite. If it wheelstands on radials, likely needs more front percentage and some better power management

not sure what is going on with the front segment. . What I do know is in pictures that I've seen I have almost no separation.. I run very soft on extension.. I'm pretty stiff on compression.. in pictures that I've seen it's bo's the back leaf spring way down.. the leaf spring that's in the car is almost flat I cannot go any flatter on the spring or it'll be a reversed Arch.. thanks for everyone's help

maybe power management is the fix I hit it with everything I got at the starting line

If you have too get the Assan bars.. they would
be stronger.. you have a front segment issue if
it rotates and the body doesnt lift

"Very soft" on extension is backwards. That lets it slam the housing down, as you have no housing control. You want the extension as stiff as it can be and still plant the tire

I don't see separation

The Willie bars are on the ground . And set 13.1/2inch high static on this pass

Put a Go Pro under there and see your problem